Bill Polian “can’t imagine” trading Colts’ first-round pick

The Colts will probably have the first overall pick in next year’s NFL draft and will definitely pick in the top three, and Bill Polian says he doesn’t want to trade down.

Polian all but confirmed to Adam Schein and Rich Gannon on SiriusXM NFL Radio that he wants to stay put and draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, rather than trade the pick to stockpile talent on a roster that has holes in several places. Polian doesn’t see any scenario where trading the first overall pick for veteran players would work, because a bunch of veteran players would be too costly under the salary cap. And Polian wants to get to work on building a winning team now, so trading the first overall pick this year for future first-round picks wouldn’t work, either.

“I can’t imagine that there are players that we could afford under the salary cap that would come in and help our team, veteran players that would be available in such a trade,” Polian said, via ESPN.com. “And if you traded it for picks, which you probably would be wise to do, those picks would be very high picks, the highest picks perhaps, in a lot of future years, which means that they wouldn’t be on the team in the short run. Somehow or other, that theory, people have asked me about that, but it doesn’t hold water with me. I don’t know what you get out of it. If you’re assuming that you trade one of the top three picks in the draft for a bunch of second- and third-rounders in that same draft, I don’t buy that one at all.”

As for another big question facing the Colts — the future of head coach Jim Caldwell — Polian said that’s up to owner Jim Irsay.

“He’s the owner and he hires and fires, and I wouldn’t presume to speak for him,” Polian said.

But unless Irsay fires Polian, it sounds like the Colts are ready to draft their quarterback of the future.

And judging by who Bill Polian has as a head coach and how the team has been put together he couldn’t imagine losing Peyton Manning for an entire season either.

pkrjones says:Dec 20, 2011 4:48 PM

Let the posturing begin, to extract the maximum leverage possible from some QB-Needy team. When Peyton’s using over 20% of your salary cap (and not even playing a down!!) of course you’re hamstrung and can’t afford to pay talented veterans. You’re stuck, sucking, hoping that Peyton-the-Phoenix rises out of the ashes and is able to buy you another year of mediocrity. Trade the pick, load up on a low-level FA’s for your receiving corps and OL and make a run at .500 in 2012.

ijr213 says:Dec 20, 2011 4:52 PM

Could be a ruse to get that offer they can’t refuse. Something along the lines of getting a brand new house 10x the size of yours and a new car that’s brand new and worth more than yours 10x that amount for free without getting taxed.

Anyone who talks this much about not trading a pick, even if asked, has to be held suspect.

So he says it would be wise to trade down but then says he’s not a fan of it? 1-13 suddenly makes more sense. Anyway, this reeks of posturing… there’s no reason to talk this much about NOT trading a pick unless you’re looking to trade it and trying to drive the price up.

Actually, the Colts can get over-compensated very nicely for trading the No. 1 pick because of the new rookie lower pay scale, along with the zero-none risk of the player holding out. Given this, the No.1 pick is more valuable than ever before and more teams should line up for a chance at it.

jaggedmark says: Dec 20, 2011 4:48 PM
Here Polian, here’s a scenario.
A team drafting 4th overall offers you 2 first rd picks, 2 second rd picks, and 2 third rd picks to move down to their 4th spot, and let you have the first spot.
There’s always a scenario, you’re just trying to drive the trade value up with that comment.

Unless Ditka was hired as GM somewhere that I don’t know about, no GM is crazy enough to do that. It is a horrible trade.

In other words, Irsay’s message to Caldwell and the rest of the players is this:

If you want to be invited back here next year for a chance to keep your job, don’t even think about winning another game this season.

blackqbwhiterb says:Dec 20, 2011 6:16 PM

The question is not “Can you imagine trading that pick”, the question is, “Can you imagine paying your old QB $28 million after 2 neck surgeries and a year off, and HOPE you get your money’s worth??”…..

I love how you Colts fans have turned on Polian so quickly. He gave you a full decade of dominant teams. I’m a Bills fan and he built the Super Bowl teams – we have basically sucked ever since he left. I for one would love to have him back! Not his fault Manning didn’t play a down.

Ever since Jimmy Irsay learned of his firing (err promotion) in the news media by his father, he realized he is not capable of making decisions of any import (well maybe buying Jerry Garcia’s guitar for $850,000) and if he does as he is told by Bill Polian, (and his other financial advisers) he will remain in his inherited position on the Forbes 400 richest richest Americans list!

This spells doom for the Colts. If they draft Luck and keep Manning, Luck won’t play for four years… as if thats going to go over well with Luck. A lot of people doing realize that once these neck fusion surguries heal your neck is like new. It takes a year to fully heal, but then it’s as if it never happened.

If they draft Luck and trade Manning, Luck will never fill Manning’s shoes. Even Eli Manning couldn’t fill Peyton’s shoes. No rookie can be successful with that team. Then they will watch Peyton like the Packers watched Favre light it up, only Peyton will be 4 years younger than Favre when he was traded.

I remeber when Peyton was coming out of UT and it was do we choose him or some guy named Ryan….uh well you know who i mean…lol. So nothing is certain when you do draft. Also points to where Brady was selected.

nflcombineresults says:Dec 20, 2011 7:46 PM

How is Manning going to feel about the Colts using that pick on a backup QB instead of an elite player that makes the team better right away?

Which teams would take on Manning’s contract with his career being somewhat at risk, let alone give up draft picks and players to do so?

The Colts are in a tough spot, but I guess it’s a good problem to have.

Like how you failed to mention that Favre never won a SB with those other teams and that Rodgers won a SB last year and has a good chance at a repeat. I think Colts fans would be ok with that “no win” situation…

6ball says:Dec 20, 2011 8:39 PM

.

If Brady, Aaron Rogers, Roelisberger, or Drew Brees were lost for the season, does anyone believe that their teams would only win one game all year? Even without their starting QB’s, those teams would be competing for a playoff spot.

Trade manning for both veteran talent now + a freaking crapload of picks over the next couple seasons. The 28M wouldn’t count in the cap, so essentially he could take that 28M as an investment (that he would spend anyway keeping manning) and grab a bunch of good guys available now and be ready to stock the cabinet over the next couple years and Luck would mature.

Look, if the Colts are truly in full-on rebuilding mode (and I think they might be), then trading that pick makes some sense (although keeping it for the top QB prospect makes sense, too). We’ve seen blue-chip defensive players come into the league over the past several seasons and make immediate and dramatic impacts on their teams (Willis in SF, Ryans in HOU, Suh in DET, to name a few). The Colts could trade down, pick up an extra pick in the first round (and possibly a first rounder next year, too, depending on how desparate the team is for a QB), along with additional picks in rounds 2 and/or 3. They still get a good QB prospect (this is an incredibly deep QB class), but can build a great D and O-line. Not an irrational plan nor beyond one’s imagination.

This argument from Polian makes zero sense. So he doesn’t want to build a veteran ‘dream team’ because it would cost too much in cap space, but he doesn’t want to stockpile future draft picks because he wants to ‘win now’.

Okay, so how is staying in the #1 spot (and presumably drafting Luck) helping the team to ‘win now’? Unless the Colts invent a revolutionary new offence that uses two QBs, you can’t have both Manning and Luck on the field at the same time. You could trade Manning but for what? You’ve already said that you don’t want either veteran talent or a stockpile of picks.

So the only way that the #1 pick is helping you win ‘right now’ is if Luck comes in and is *immediately* better than Peyton Manning. That’s a pretty big ask for a rookie QB, even Andrew Luck, don’t you think?

Until I see evidence to the contrary, this is just highly transparent smoke blowing.

durazor says:Dec 21, 2011 3:25 AM

I think what Bill Polian meant was….I can’t imagine being a decent team so we wouldn’t have to draft #1 in 2012!

broncobourque says:Dec 21, 2011 7:49 AM

The only team that i could see being able to make it worth it is the Browns. Both first round picks this year (probably 4th and 22nd approx), a second and 3rd this year, a first next year and Colt McCoy. That would be enough to give the Colts 4 picks in the top 36, 6 in the top 70, a decent development QB behind Manning and a good pick next year that you could potential turn into a mid 1st this year.

Anything less than that kind of offer and i think the Colts might have to draft Luck.

Remember 2009 when most Detroit fans wanted to pass on Matthew Stafford for the safest pick in the draft Aaron Curry or the legendary Jason Smith? The Lions decided to go against the fans wishes and went with Stafford. Where would the Lions be if they had Curry or Smith.